CHAPTER 3

Nora’s POV

I waited until the house went dark.

It was past midnight. The main house was silent. Through the thin walls of the guest room, I couldn't hear anything from upstairs, and I was grateful. Some sounds you can never unhear, and I had already stored enough of those to last a lifetime.

I reached into the hidden pocket of my bag and pulled out the second phone. The one with no name attached to it. No pack registration. No trace. A phone that existed in a world Damien didn't even know about.

I dialed the number from memory and waited.

Two rings. Then that voice. Deep and slow, like whiskey poured over gravel, smooth with just enough edge to make your spine straighten.

"V." A pause. "It's late. Even for you."

Kade Parker. Alpha of the Blackridge Pack. One of the most feared and respected wolves on the entire east coast. A man who controlled a territory three times the size of Silvercrest with nothing but his word and his presence.

And somehow, the only person in this world who had ever made me feel like I could breathe.

"I need a favor," I said quietly, pressing the phone tight to my ear.

"Name it."

"I'm leaving my husband. The divorce is signed but there's a mandatory one month waiting period. After that, I need an exit. A clean one. No complications, no pack politics, no trail."

Silence on the other end. Not the uncomfortable kind. The kind that meant he was thinking. Processing. Deciding.

Then a low sound, almost a laugh but warmer. "You're finally leaving him."

"Don't say finally like you've been keeping track."

"I have been keeping track, V. Three years. Thirty six months. You think I haven't noticed?" His voice dropped half a note, settling into that quiet, steady register that always made the back of my neck go warm. "I told you two years ago that you deserved better. You told me to mind my business."

"And I'm telling you again right now. This is a business call, Kade."

"Sure it is." I could hear the smile. Slow and knowing, the kind that would look devastating on his face if I ever saw it in person. "Tell me what you need. I'll have everything arranged within the week."

"Safe housing outside pack jurisdiction. New documents if it comes to that. Financial channels that can't be traced back to Apex."

"Done. What else?"

"That's it."

"No, it's not." His voice got quieter. Not softer. Quieter. The way a wolf gets still before it moves. "You're scared, V. I can hear it."

My jaw tightened. "I'm not scared."

"You're calling me at midnight from a bathroom or a closet or wherever you're hiding in that house, asking for an escape plan. That sounds a lot like scared to me."

"It sounds like practical."

"It sounds like both." He exhaled slowly. "Listen to me. One month. That's all you need to get through. After that, I will personally make sure you walk out of there untouched. No one sends you back. No one lays a hand on you. And when you're out, you come to Blackridge, and we figure out the rest face to face."

My eyes were stinging. I pressed my fingers against them hard.

"Kade, don't make this into something it isn't."

"I'm not making it into anything. I'm telling you what's going to happen." A pause. "V?"

"What."

"Whoever this man is, whatever he did to make you sound like this at midnight, he's a fool. A blind, ungrateful fool."

I swallowed hard. "You don't know the whole story."

"I know enough. I've known enough for two years. And when I finally meet you in person, and I will, I have a few things I've been waiting to say to you."

"Kade."

"Hmm?"

"We're friends. That's all we are."

"We're whatever you need us to be, V. But don't tell me what I feel." His voice was so calm, so certain, it made my chest ache. "One month. I'll be ready."

I hung up before he could hear my breathing crack.

I sat on the edge of the narrow guest bed for a long time, staring at the dark phone screen. My reflection stared back at me, tired and hollow, nothing like the woman Kade talked to. He knew V. The sharp one. The one who ran a six industry empire from the shadows. The one powerful Alphas called when their packs were falling apart and they needed someone smarter than them to fix it.

He didn't know Nora. The invisible Luna. The woman who sat in guest rooms and ate dinner alone and smiled at pack events while her husband looked right through her.

Two different women. Two different lives. And in twenty nine days, one of them was going to swallow the other whole.

The next morning, I was pouring coffee in the kitchen when I felt Damien's eyes on me. He was leaning against the counter with his arms crossed, watching me the way a wolf watches a rabbit that's acting strange.

"Who were you talking to last night?" His voice was casual. His eyes were anything but.

I didn't flinch. "Nobody."

"I heard you through the wall. You were on the phone for twenty minutes."

"Then stop listening through walls. We're getting divorced, Damien. What I do with my phone isn't your concern anymore."

His jaw flexed. Something dark passed behind his eyes. "You're still my Luna until that month is up, Nora. Everything you do is my concern."

I took a slow sip of my coffee, looked him dead in the face, and said nothing.

His fingers curled around the edge of the counter so hard I heard the wood creak.

He wanted me gone. But he also wanted to control what I did on the way out. That was Damien in a nutshell. He didn't want me, but he sure as hell didn't want anyone else to have me either.

I rinsed my mug, dried my hands, and walked out of the kitchen without another word.

Twenty eight days.